Deploy via the CLI

The CLI runs in two modes.

Mode	When	How it works
Local	On the server itself	Reads --config /etc/simpledeploy/config.yaml, writes directly to apps_dir.
Remote	From your laptop or CI	Uses an API key + URL stored in ~/.simpledeploy/config.yaml to call the server’s REST API.

Most people want the remote mode.

Set up a context

A “context” is a named (URL, API key) pair. Like kubectl config.

1. On the server, create an API key (or use one from the dashboard):

   sudo simpledeploy apikey create --name "laptop" --user-id 1
   # prints sd_xxxx once

2. On your laptop:

   simpledeploy context add prod \
     --url https://manage.example.com \
     --api-key sd_xxxx
   simpledeploy context use prod

3. Verify:

   simpledeploy list

Deploy

# Single app
simpledeploy apply -f docker-compose.yml --name myapp

# A whole directory of apps (each subdirectory is one app)
simpledeploy apply -d ./apps/

The CLI uploads the file, the server writes it to apps_dir, the reconciler deploys.

Other useful commands

# List apps and status
simpledeploy list

# Stream logs
simpledeploy logs myapp --follow
simpledeploy logs myapp --tail 200 --service db

# Pull latest image, redeploy
simpledeploy pull myapp

# Compare local compose to deployed version
simpledeploy diff -f docker-compose.yml --name myapp

# Push everything in a directory in one shot
simpledeploy sync -d ./apps/

For CI: store the API key as a secret, run `simpledeploy context add ci --url ... --api-key $SD_KEY` in the job, then `simpledeploy apply -f compose.yml --name myapp`.

Full command reference: CLI.